Chaguanas winners collect $93,000

Commissioner of Regional Carnival Paula Atherly who delivered the feature address praised the organisers “for their sense of commitment in the face of adverse circumstances.” She pointed out that there was a renaissance in Carnival in the Borough.

Before Atherly spoke Deputy Mayor Orlando Nagessar called on the Estate Management Business Development Company (EMBDC) to make 25 acres of land available to establish a cultural centre to serve the borough throughout the year.

He said that the idea of staging Carnival on the road should now become part of history and that there should be a concentration of thought in creating a proper cultural base that would be of paramount importance in promoting projects in Chaguanas.

Nagessar said that the main streets in Chaguanas became too crowded on Carnival days and the possibility of violence was always a real threat, so the cultural centre was a worthwhile recommendation to the Central Government.

Atherly said that her committee was allocated the sum of $1.5 million and she had to service 53 District Carnival Committees, so on the basis of her funding Nagessar’s point-of-view should be redirected.

She called on all groups to play “your part and make a difference in the cultural landscape of the country.” Atherly said she was happy that traditional mas had taken over from the bikini and bead mas that was flourishing and “that says a great deal for the creativity spirit of our bandleaders.”

The Band of the Year prize was presented to Central Elite’s “Dream Come True,” which won $8,000 and the Leroy Steele Memorial Trophy , with second-placed band, “From the Barbaric Age,” led by Herman Clarke of Couva, receiving $4,000, and “History in Fantasy” collecting $2,000. Donald Brown’s ‘‘Dance Fantasy,” got $1,500 for coming fourth.